Which children to invite to 3yr olds party

[jumpyjan]

We are having a party for DD's 3rd birthday and I can't decide what would be a good number of children to invite as I don't want it to be overwhelming but as its in Jan am worried about people pulling out with illness etc.

I could either invite my friends and their children (some of whom DD knows/plays with) or am wondering whether to invite nursery friends. Trouble with nursery friends is who to invite as DD mentions different names all the time, she does not seem to have best friends there, also a lot of them are older and I don't know the parents so not sure if they would stay or not.

What do people normally do for the age?

Sorry - should be 'what do children normally do for this age'?

ideally you wouldn't bother!

with dd we went for the first option.

Thanks GoGo - I am thinking that the nursery option is a right hassle but was not sure if I was being a bit mean by not inviting her 'proper' friends.

I think if I just invite my friends and the children there will be about 10 children (if all attend) - does that sounds about right?

have only ever had family friends for 3 year old parties

10 is a perfect number!

For ds1's 3rd birthday party/lunch I just invited 3 mothers I liked most with children roughly the same age as mine.

Round here 'at home' parties with a handful of friends seem to be the norm for 3rd birthdays, and then whole class (pre-school) in a village hall for 4th birthdays.

For DS's birthday I invited my friends and their children of varying ages plus I also asked his pre school teacher to tell me the names of the 5 children he played with most at pre school, which they did and I invited them too.